Do you like dark chocolate? Me too! How about chocolate cake? YES! Here is a a surprisingly easy way to make healthy, rich, fudgy cake. We’re going to use an avocado to make this happen. Don’t freak out, you’ll love it. Preheat your oven to 350 and get ready to have your cake and eat it, too.

Ingredients:

4 oz darkest chocolate you can find (75% or higher)

1/2 cup coffee

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1/3 cup stevia

1/4 cup amber agave syrup

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 large or 1 small avocado, mashed (or 2 eggs if you wish, it doesn’t have to be a vegan cake)

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut or almond milk

Fudge Frosting

8 oz darkest chocolate possible, preferably 90-100%

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1/4 cup stevia

1. Melt the 3 oz chocolate and coffee in a saucepan. Stir, leave it alone. You don’t need it yet.

2. Put your coconut oil in a small glass bowl and put it in the oven for a few minutes to melt.

*If you find that the cake is too rich and not sweet enough to please your family, go lighter on the dark chocolate. I use 90% dark chocolate, but you can opt for 60-70% to sweeten the deal. Caveat: the lower the cacao percentage, the higher the sugar levels.

Don’t get me wrong folks, chocolate cake is chocolate cake. However, some versions are less damaging than others, and this is one of them. You’ll get the antioxidant benefits of dark chocolate, the health benefits of organic coconut oil, and the healthy fats from the avocado……without the excessive sugar and carbs. There is nothing bad in this puppy, can you believe that?? And why, oh why, do we love chocolate so much? Because chocolate is the bomb, that’s why. Also, chocolate is a unique substance because it triggers the release of several neurotransmitter releases at once. You can read more about the magical powers of chocolate here on a previous article written about chocolate and depression.

That’s all for today, folks. This week, I am collecting food items for an organization called Carry Out for Kids. This program helps children identified within the school systems as “at risk” for going hungry when they do not attend school. These children rely on the breakfast and lunches served at school to survive. If they don’t attend school, these kids will likely go hungry. This Saturday, I am delivering large paper bags full of food items to be delivered directly to these children next week at school. Each child receives an entire bag of food items to take home. If you would like to help this effort, you can contact me via email here and I will coordinate with you to do that. If you live in this area and would like to contribute, it’s easy. I can come pick up the food items from you, and I will pack them in a separate bag to deliver next Saturday. This is an easy, concrete way to help give a child food who would not otherwise have it. There are plenty of BOGOs at Publix this week that make this a cost effective effort. I can’t sleep at night thinking about the fact that so many children in our society go hungry, so let’s see what we can do to make a difference here. Ciao for now…..